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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22478017">Itsy Bitsy Spider</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/StoriesbyNessie/pseuds/StoriesbyNessie'>StoriesbyNessie</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Anxiety, Auror Draco Malfoy, Comfort, Cuddling &amp; Snuggling, Good Draco Malfoy, POV Draco Malfoy, POV Ron Weasley, Panic Attacks, fear of spiders</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-01-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-01-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 11:55:09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,046</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22478017</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/StoriesbyNessie/pseuds/StoriesbyNessie</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>There's a spider in his flat. It's there, and it's plotting world domination. Ron is absolutely sure. </p><p>Based on a real newspaper article where the police were called to stop what they thought was domestic abuse. Instead, the only thing they found was a frightened man and a spider.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Draco Malfoy/Ron Weasley</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>194</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Itsy Bitsy Spider</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>There was a spider in his flat; Ron was absolutely sure. He couldn’t see it move, couldn’t see it at all, actually, but it sure as hell was there. It was there, and it was currently plotting world domination, starting with his flat.</p><p>Ron’s heart was beating so fast he was certain he would get a bloody heart attack. Sweat prickled his face. He was standing on a chair in the kitchen, holding his wand in one hand and the nearest thing he had found upon discovering the eight-legged creature, a spatula, in the other. He knew he was teetering on the edge of a full-fledged panic attack in the way his breathing increased. He looked worriedly around him, blue eyes searching every inch of what he could see.</p><p> </p><p><em>’Come on…’</em> he tried convincing himself, <em>’it’s just a little spider. Nothing to be afraid of. Just a little tiny spider. It can’t harm you. You are a Gryffindor. You can’t let your fears control you.’</em></p><p> </p><p>It was no use. Ron was soon hyperventilating and something itched at the nape of his neck. Or crawled…</p><p>
  <em>Fuck, it’s on me. It’s on me, it’s on me, it’s on me!</em>
</p><p> </p><p>He couldn’t help himself.</p><p>It was inevitable he started to scream.</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>____________</b>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Draco was in no mood working the late night shift. It was often slow and boring, but he supposed he would much rather spend it at the quiet office instead of in the Manor watching his father complain about everything that was wrong with their world. He yawned and stretched, checking his wristwatch when his Auror’s emergency alarm buzzed on his desk. His pale eyebrows rose when he picked it up and read the notification.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Code red, domestic abuse, a woman appears to be in danger. Auror alerted by worried neighbours.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>He got up to his feet quickly and almost flew into his Auror’s robes. Being in this profession had given Draco a new start in life and he found he loved helping people. He loved saving peoples’ lives. It gave him a whole new title too; a title people could respect instead of him walking shamefully around being the ex Death Eater. Adrenaline rushed through him as he responded to the alarm, he knew in cases like these, there was no time to be wasted. If he was lingering, she could die or be badly hurt. Perhaps she already was.</p><p>Every second counted.</p><p> </p><p>Draco rushed to the Apparition point and Disapparated as fast as he could.</p><p> </p><p>The building he arrived to was time-stained and in bad shape. It smelled slightly mouldy. Draco took two steps at a time as he ran up the staircase as fast as his legs carried him. He could hear the screams, they were high-pitched and sounded indeed like someone was in pain.</p><p>Draco reached the door; there was no time to knock on it. He blasted it open with his wand, fully prepared to storm in.</p><p>He did but stopped dead in his tracks when he noticed horrified blue eyes stare at him belonging to a pale face with freckles.</p><p>
  <em>“Weasley?!”</em>
</p><p>“It’s on me!” Weasley’s voice was panicked. “It’s on me!” His hands were buried deep into his red curls.</p><p>“Where is she?!” Draco demanded, stepping forward to the frightened man who, for some strange reason, was standing on a chair. He looked up and pointed his wand at him. “What have you done to her, Weasley?!”</p><p>Never in a million years had Draco thought Ron Weasley out of everyone to be a batterer, but you never knew with people these days —</p><p>“It’s on me!” Ron reiterated, sobbing so much now his body shook. He didn’t hear what Draco said, completely lost in his own world and random babbles. His face was ghost-white, his fingers pulling fiercely at his hair, feet moving fast on the small space he had climbed up to.</p><p> </p><p>Draco didn’t know what to make of this situation. Not that he had expected Weasley to confess to anything, <em>if</em> he had done anything, but something with this wasn’t right.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>“It’s on me, it’s on me, it’s on me…”</em>
</p><p> </p><p>“What?!” Draco yelled, still holding the young man at wand point, “What’s on you, Weasley?!”</p><p> </p><p>Ron didn’t answer. He started screaming again, only to be broken off with his own hyperventilation. That’s when Draco realised the screams he had heard when he first arrived here, must have been coming from Ron and not some woman as first suspected. If there had been somebody else here, they would have already let him know.</p><p>The screams were in pure agony. Weasley was having a severe anxiety attack and was going to pass out if he didn’t stop hyperventilating now.</p><p>“CALM DOWN!” Draco shouted to be heard, but it was no use. No matter what he did, Ron wouldn’t.</p><p>Forcefully and taken by surprise by his own action, Draco yanked Ron down from the chair. He was almost prepared for the redhead to topple over, but Ron landed, not gracefully, on his two feet on the floor. A spatula and a wand Draco barely noticed Ron had been holding, fell beside them with a loud clatter.</p><p> </p><p>Draco put on his soothing voice, the one he used when calming down surviving victims of terrible crimes happening in their world.</p><p>“Weasley… breathe…” Draco said, taking the other man’s sweaty hands in his. He searched for eye contact, which Ron wouldn’t give him. He kept looking at his feet, desperately repeating <em>’it’s on me, it’s on me’. </em>His eyes were red-rimmed from sobbing and he was very much in distress. He screamed again, this time Draco put his hand to the redhead’s mouth, startling him.</p><p>“Weasley, what’s on you?!” Draco knew it was best if he spoke in as short sentences as possible.</p><p>“Sp-spi-spider…” Ron sobbed again. “I c-can f-f-eel it, crawling…”</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>What the hell?!</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Somewhere, beneath Draco’s new identity, he wanted to taunt Weasley and punish him for being scared shitless because of something so small and insignificant as a spider, scaring his neighbours and alerting the Auror’s, but that was something belonging in the past. Instead, he forced his voice to be <em>more </em>soothing and <em>calmer</em>.</p><p>“Weasley…” Draco realised he was still holding Ron’s hands. He let them go. “Would you like me to check? If the spider’s on you.”</p><p>“I know it’s on me, I know it’s on me!” Ron’s hands flew up to pull at his hair.</p><p>“All right…” Draco drawled, “Is it okay if I check? I’ll take care of it.”</p><p>
  <em>…If I find it.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Ron nodded.</p><p>Draco pulled out his wand and scanned around the redhead’s body with a simple detection spell. He shook his head. “No spider on you, Weasley.”</p><p>“But I can <em>feel </em>it…” Ron pinched fretfully at the skin on the nape of his neck. He wouldn’t stop breathing rapidly. Tears fell down his pale cheeks. “I can fucking feel it!”</p><p>Draco grabbed the redhead’s shoulders. “Breathe with me,” he ordered. “Like this. One…two…three…” Draco took a deep breath in, held for a few seconds, deep breath out. He kept going, counting slowly to ten at the same time. Soon, Ron breathed along with him in a finally calm, even rhythm. His knees wobbled, so Draco helped him to sit down on the floor. He sat beside him, slowly stroking over the redhead’s back.</p><p>“Bend forward a little,” Draco said. Weasley easily obeyed, trusting him. When he was bent forward in his seated position, Draco had good access to the back of Ron’s neck. He saw flushed pink skin beneath red hair. “I’m moving your hair, Weasley…” Draco stuck his hand inside Ron’s chequered shirt, warm skin against his fingertips. He stroked slowly along the man’s spine. “I’m checking for spiders again, nothing else.” Draco told him.</p><p>“Okay.” Ron’s voice was slightly muffled from how he sat.</p><p>Draco pulled his hand away, pinching something between thumb and forefinger. “This must be what you felt underneath your shirt.” He held up a loose thread for Ron to see. “This is the dangerous spider you were so terrified of.” Draco couldn’t help the sarcastic tone in his voice. Some things never changed.</p><p>Blue eyes looked up. Ron frowned. “But I saw it. In the flat… The spider…”</p><p>“There is no spider, Weasley.” Draco resumed stroking over Ron’s back, moving his hand over the cheap shirt material which was thick against the palm of his hand. It seemed to calm him down. “Do you have any idea why I’m here? Your neighbours called in; they thought someone was being physically abused in here.”</p><p>Ron only then seemed to notice Draco’s Auror’s robes. His eyes grew large as saucers in horror. “Oh, shit… I didn’t mean to… Please don’t — Please don’t take me to Azkaban. I’m not — I’m…” He trailed off.</p><p>“Completely mental?” Draco offered.</p><p>Ron nodded silently.</p><p>“I will not send you to Azkaban,” Draco said. “We don’t send people away just because of an anxiety attack. I’ll go back to the office and tell them it was nothing. False alarm. Your neighbours heard wrong.”</p><p>“T-thank you…”</p><p> </p><p>Ron buried his face in his hands. “I’m such a freak…” he mumbled weakly. “I’m so fucking stupid…” Draco felt a light vibration against his palm; he wondered if Ron had started to cry again. He had seen a lot of Weasley’s moods when they both attended Hogwarts, but never so weak and sensitive like this. It somehow intrigued him, watching the brash Ron Weasley appear so small.</p><p>Without really thinking about it, Draco pulled him in and held him like he was a small child. “It’s okay,” Draco whispered against Ron’s soft hair. “We all have fears, Weasley.” He knew he was repeating the phrases he used over and over in his work to calm injured or people who had lost loved ones due to dark magic.</p><p>“People rarely get bloody panic attacks because of them,” Ron muttered sullenly.</p><p>“You’re wrong,” Draco said, hand stroking over Ron’s upper arm. “You’ve got no idea.”</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>____________</b>
</p><p> </p><p>Ron didn’t know why Draco held him. But he was glad he did. He let himself be taken cared of when he was pulled into a sort of half hug, half embrace.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>You’re such an attention whore.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Malfoy’s breath was warm against his hair. They sat together like this for Ron had no clue how long. It was weird, considering this was <em>Malfoy, </em>but Ron couldn’t be bothered with thoughts on whether this was right or wrong right now. Every bone in his body ached with fatigue. Draco rocked him slightly, nose buried in Ron’s thick hair. The warmth of him was comforting.</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>____________</b>
</p><p> </p><p>“Tired…” Weasley breathed.</p><p>“I know,” Draco whispered. “You’ve been through a lot Weasley, it’s normal.”</p><p>
  <em>Even though it was just a bloody spider.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Draco knew he should leave. His colleagues would have questions if he didn’t show up soon. He pressed the small device they used at work to communicate to let them know that everything was alright. He shifted a little where he sat on the floor, the muscles in his lower body started to become numb.</p><p>Ron’s long body tensed in his arms, as if the other man sensed Draco needed to go.<br/>“Can you stay?” He begged. “I know I shouldn’t ask, but…” His head shot up and he licked his lips nervously. “Don’t dare to be alone, after —“Ron’s cheeks flushed, and he looked away.</p><p>“If you need me to, I’ll stay,” Draco heard himself say. It was beyond all work ethics, he knew.</p><p>“Thank you…” Ron said in a low voice. Draco didn’t know at first if he was imagining it or not when Weasley snuggled up to him, making himself impossibly small. It took a few seconds for it to sink in.</p><p> </p><p>A few quiet minutes passed by in the kitchen. Ron felt lax in his arms. Draco wondered if the man had fallen asleep when his grey eyes caught something in one of the dark corners. A spider, happily busy with making a web. Draco reacted fast, picking up his wand that laid next to him. He killed the small creature off with a silent spell and removed the evidence of it. Ron stirred.</p><p>“Whazzthat?” His voice was sleepy.</p><p>“Nothing,” whispered Draco, kissing his hair.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>A/N: I don't know if this makes Draco out of character or not, I tried my best to keep him in character. But I absolutely loved putting him in the Auror's profession! Usually, that's the profession I give Ron because it's awesome, it was fun changing it up.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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